2026 Midterm elections: 1st Congressional District features tight race

We are in the homestretch, of course, of the campaign season and a few races seem to be coming down to the wire right now. Minnesota's first congressional district is one of them, pitting incumbent Congressman Brad Finstad against teacher Jake Johnson. Fox 9's Corinne Hoggett is live in Rice County. And Corinne, this district was a double digit Republican winner in the last two elections, but it looks a lot different in 2026, right? Yes, I mean Congressman Brad Finstad just kind of sailed to victory with big wins in 2022 2022 and 2024. But polling right now indicates that he may be losing his grip on this seat. Jake Johnson is the Democrat in the race. He's a math teacher. He's a political newcomer. Finstad has tried to tie Johnson to Governor Tim Walz, who was the last Democrat to win in this district. But what he hasn't been able to do, Finstad could not match the pace that Johnson has had for events all across the district. He's actually done them in all 21 counties here in Congressional District 1. And another thing that is affecting Finstad's campaign, perhaps, is his connections to President Trump. Unlike a lot of Republicans across the country, he hasn't tried to distance himself from President Trump and his policies. Instead, argued that the president has been right all along, And these policies will just take some time to actually play out. So Finstad won this district in 2024 by 17 percentage points. But back then, President Trump was kind of the wind beneath his sails. He won the district by 12 points. And this time around, the president may be one of the reasons that Finstad's losing ground. We're seeing all the issues that are playing nationally against Republicans playing in the first congressional district. The issue of affordability, particularly the farm economy and the troubles with that fuel, health care costs. All these things are on the minds of voters in the first congressional district. There's also concern about the Iran war, inflation. It just goes down the list. The tariffs have had a real impact on the farm economy down in the southern tier of Minnesota. So Corinne, with the race this close, these last days of the campaign could be very meaningful. What will the candidates be focusing as they continue their march toward election day? Yeah, Kelsey, I mean, the last 12 days are really just gonna be about voter turnout. So for Finstad, that would be continuing to make the argument, trying to convince people that President Trump's policies just need more time. then the pain that they're feeling financially will go away. For Johnson, it's reminding people about that pain and how the president's policies have impacted them. So what you're probably going to see is a lot more ads on TV, on social media. And that brings us to another point here, which is this is a pretty weird race. It's not often that an incumbent gets outspent by a challenger, But Johnson has done just that by about half a million dollars. Here we've got a barn burner down the first congressional district. And the challenger, Johnson, has raised more money than the incumbent Finstad. So you wonder, why aren't Republicans investing in this district? Are they taking it for granted? But they are investing now. Just in the last week or so, Two GOP political action committees have injected about $400,000 into the race on Finstad's behalf. And so what that really means is the closing arguments are going to be a lot louder. Yeah, and we are almost there. Less than two weeks now. Yeah, I mean, it's been, I feel like, a quick campaign cycle. Like, we've gotten here pretty quickly, but these last few days always matter in a campaign. And so, Corin Haggar, we know that you'll continue to be watching every single race as we get ready for election night. All right. Thanks, Corin.